Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-R — 32×100G Spine Switch with Deeper Buffer and Reverse Airflow
The
Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-R is a 1RU, 32-port 100G spine switch built on the 7060X2 platform. Delivering
6.4 Tbps of non-blocking switching capacity with
450 ns cut-through latency and a
22 MB shared packet buffer, it is purpose-built for the spine layer of high-density 25G/100G leaf-spine fabrics. The CX2 adds a
40% deeper packet buffer and
native IEEE 802.3by 25GbE support over the first-generation 7060CX-32S, making it the right choice for environments where bursty traffic patterns demand more headroom for congestion management. The “
-R” suffix denotes
rear-to-front (reverse) airflow, making this model ideal for data centers, labs, and mixed-equipment racks that standardize on reverse thermal design.
Key Features at a Glance
- 32 × 100GbE QSFP28 ports with 5-speed flexibility: 100G, 40G, 4×25G, 4×10G, or 2×50G per port
- 6.4 Tbps non-blocking switching capacity — full wire speed across all 32 ports simultaneously
- 450 ns cut-through latency for latency-sensitive workloads including HFT and real-time analytics
- 22 MB shared packet buffer — 40% deeper than the 7060CX-32S (16 MB) for superior congestion absorption
- Native IEEE 802.3by 25GbE support — direct 25G connectivity without compatibility adaptations
- Rear-to-front airflow (“-R”) for reverse-cooled data centers and lab environments
- Redundant, hot-swappable power supplies and fan trays for continuous high availability
- Full L2/L3 feature set: VXLAN, EVPN, MLAG, ECMP, BGP, and advanced routing
- Rich telemetry: LANZ, sFlow, AEM, and streaming telemetry
- Runs Arista EOS® with open APIs, Python/Bash scripting, and CloudVision® integration
The CX2 Upgrade: 40% Deeper Buffer and Native 25GbE
The
7060CX2-32S preserves every performance characteristic of the original 7060CX-32S — 32×100G ports, 6.4 Tbps throughput, 450 ns latency — while delivering two meaningful upgrades in its next-generation ASIC:
- 22 MB shared packet buffer vs 16 MB on the CX: A 40% increase in shared buffer depth gives the CX2 substantially more room to absorb incast events, bursty storage traffic, and east-west congestion without dropping packets or triggering back-pressure. In spine roles where many-to-one traffic converges at line rate, this buffer headroom directly translates into lower tail latency and fewer retransmits under load.
- Native IEEE 802.3by 25GbE support: The CX2 natively supports the 25GbE standard across all 32 QSFP28 ports, ensuring clean interoperability with 25G leaf switches and servers without requiring backward-compatibility workarounds. This matters in environments mixing Arista 7050SX3 leaf switches, 25G servers, and 100G uplinks in a single fabric.
All other hardware — port count, form factor, throughput ceiling, and EOS feature set — is identical between the CX and CX2. The CX2 is the logical upgrade for fabric architects who want the same proven 7060X platform with more congestion management headroom.
6.4 Tbps Non-Blocking Architecture
The
DCS-7060CX2-32S-R delivers
6.4 Tbps of full-duplex, non-blocking switching capacity across all 32 QSFP28 ports. This means every port can transmit and receive at 100G simultaneously without any oversubscription — critical for spine switches where east-west bandwidth is the primary bottleneck. The platform maintains this throughput ceiling regardless of traffic mix, packet size distribution, or the number of active flows, providing the predictable spine performance that large-scale fabrics depend on.
450 ns Cut-Through Latency
Operating in cut-through switching mode, the
7060CX2-32S-R delivers
450 nanoseconds of port-to-port latency with low jitter across all 32 ports. This places it firmly in the sub-microsecond tier required by latency-sensitive applications including high-frequency trading systems, real-time analytics pipelines, and distributed financial processing infrastructure. At 450 ns, the switch contributes minimal latency to the overall fabric round-trip time even in multi-hop topologies.
Port Density and 5-Speed Flexibility
The 7060CX2-32S provides
32 × QSFP28 ports, each configurable at five different speeds:
- 100GbE — native full-rate for spine-to-spine or spine-to-DCI connections
- 40GbE — backward compatibility with existing 40G infrastructure
- 4 × 25GbE breakout — connect up to 128 leaf switches in a single 1RU spine
- 4 × 10GbE breakout — legacy 10G endpoint or switch connectivity
- 2 × 50GbE breakout — 50G dual-port connectivity for NIC-bonding or storage
This per-port flexibility allows a single 7060CX2-32S spine to simultaneously service leaf switches at 100G, connect to legacy 40G aggregation, and provide breakout connectivity to 25G endpoints — without any additional hardware.
Optics, Cables, and Interoperability
The
DCS-7060CX2-32S-R supports a broad ecosystem of standards-based
optics and cables across all 32 QSFP28 ports:
- 100G QSFP28: 100GBASE-SR4, LR4, ER4, PSM4; QSFP28 DACs and AOCs for short-reach spine-to-leaf connections
- 40G QSFP+: 40GBASE-SR4, LR4; QSFP+ DACs for backward-compatible uplinks
- Breakout cables: MPO-to-LC fan-out cables for 4×25G or 4×10G configurations
Standards-based QSFP28 interoperability ensures you can source optics and cables from Arista-qualified vendors or third-party suppliers while maintaining full switch functionality.
Spine-Optimized Fabric Support: VXLAN, EVPN, and ECMP
The
7060CX2-32S-R is designed from the ground up as a high-performance spine switch for modern leaf-spine and cloud-scale architectures:
- VXLAN: Spine-layer VXLAN routing for scalable overlay fabrics with tens of thousands of VNIs
- EVPN: BGP-based control plane for distributed MAC/IP learning, multi-tenancy, and MAC mobility
- Up to 128-way ECMP: Maximum path diversity across leaf-spine fabrics, distributing east-west load evenly across all spine uplinks
- BGP and IS-IS: Full-featured underlay routing for IP fabric designs with flexible topology support
With 32 downlinks running at 100G, the 7060CX2-32S can serve as the spine layer for a leaf-spine fabric supporting up to 32 leaf switches, each with 100G uplinks — providing a fully non-blocking path for 3,200+ server-facing ports in a single-tier spine.
Telemetry, Monitoring, and Real-Time Insight
The
DCS-7060CX2-32S-R includes Arista’s full telemetry stack for spine-layer observability:
- LANZ (Latency Analyzer): Real-time per-port queue depth visibility and microburst detection — essential for diagnosing congestion events at the spine without impacting production traffic
- sFlow: Continuous traffic sampling for east-west flow analysis, elephant flow detection, and capacity planning
- AEM (Arista Event Monitor): Rule-based, programmable alerting for link events, queue thresholds, and routing protocol state changes
- Streaming Telemetry: High-frequency state and counter export to gRPC collectors, analytics platforms, and observability stacks (Grafana, Prometheus, Splunk)
LANZ is particularly valuable in spine roles, where many-to-one incast patterns can create transient queue buildup on a small number of downlinks. Real-time buffer visibility lets operators identify and remediate hot spots before they degrade fabric performance.
EOS Automation and Extensibility
Running on
Arista EOS®, the
DCS-7060CX2-32S-R is built for automation-first network operations:
- Native on-box Python and Bash scripting via the Linux shell for custom event handling and operational tooling
- JSON-RPC eAPI for programmatic configuration and state retrieval — integrates natively with Ansible, Terraform, Salt, and Nornir
- CloudVision® for centralized configuration management, zero-touch provisioning, network topology visualization, and change control with full audit trail
- OpenConfig and gNMI/gRPC for vendor-agnostic model-driven management and streaming state export
- Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) for fully automated day-0 configuration of new spine switches
EOS’s single-binary image and stateful restart architecture simplify upgrade cycles across large spine fleets, with in-service software upgrades (ISSU) where supported to minimize planned maintenance windows.
Rear-to-Front Airflow and Environmental Efficiency
The “
-R” airflow configuration provides
rear-to-front (reverse) cooling, ideal for:
- Environments where cold air is introduced at the rear of the rack
- Labs and PoC environments with mixed vendor airflow conventions
- Rows where the majority of installed gear already uses reverse airflow
- Data centers separating port-side cabling from airflow exhaust paths
The switch includes
variable-speed fans and
redundant, hot-swappable power supplies to balance thermal efficiency with uptime requirements. If your racks use
front-to-rear (forward) airflow, consider the
DCS-7060CX2-32S-F — identical in every respect except airflow direction.
Compliance and Sustainability
The Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-R aligns with modern environmental and safety standards:
- RoHS and WEEE compliant — energy-efficient ASIC design contributes to lower power per gigabit than previous-generation platforms
- Secure boot with digitally signed EOS images to prevent unauthorized firmware modifications
- Compact 1RU form factor maximizes port density per rack unit in spine aggregation rows
Security Features
Security is integrated at the platform and software level:
- Secure boot and digitally signed EOS images
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) for granular operator and administrator separation
- TACACS+/RADIUS/LDAP for centralized authentication, authorization, and accounting
- ACLs for enforcing traffic policy and segmentation at the spine layer
- Control Plane Policing (CoPP) to protect the switch CPU from volumetric control-plane attacks
Deployment Scenarios and Industry Applications
The
DCS-7060CX2-32S-R is optimized for high-performance spine roles across a range of deployment types:
- 25G/100G Leaf-Spine Fabrics: The natural spine pairing for Arista 7050SX3-series leaf switches — 32×100G uplinks with 22 MB of buffer to absorb east-west incast without fabric degradation.
- High-Frequency Trading Infrastructure: Sub-500 ns cut-through latency with consistent jitter makes the 7060CX2-32S-R suitable for trading floor core and inter-pod switching in time-sensitive financial environments.
- Hyperscale and Cloud Data Centers: 6.4 Tbps non-blocking capacity with 128-way ECMP enables full-bisection-bandwidth fabric designs at scale.
- HPC and Research Clusters: The deeper 22 MB buffer handles the bursty all-to-all communication patterns characteristic of MPI workloads, parallel file system access, and AI/ML training clusters.
- Large Enterprise Data Centers: Spine layer for multi-pod campus or enterprise data center designs requiring 100G spine connectivity and proven EOS feature depth.
- Colocation Providers: Flexible 5-speed per port allows the same physical spine to connect 100G, 40G, and breakout 25G/10G tenants simultaneously.
Lifecycle, Reliability, and Future-Proofing
The
7060CX2-32S-R is built for long operational lifecycles with high MTBF ratings, field-replaceable fans and power supplies, and a consistent Arista EOS release cadence. Its deeper buffer and native 25GbE support position it well for fabrics that continue to expand leaf-switch density and server 25G deployments over a multi-year horizon. The 7060CX2 is a widely deployed platform with an established track record in production data centers globally.
Competitive Comparison
Compared to related spine platforms, the DCS-7060CX2-32S-R delivers a strong combination of throughput, latency, and buffer management:
- Versus Arista DCS-7060CX-32S-R: The CX2 adds a 40% deeper packet buffer (22 MB vs 16 MB) and native 25GbE (IEEE 802.3by) support. Throughput and latency are identical. For bursty east-west workloads or pure 25G leaf environments, the CX2 is the stronger choice; the DCS-7060CX-32S-R remains a cost-effective option where the additional buffer depth is not required.
- Versus Cisco Nexus 9332C: Comparable 32×100G spine platform; the 7060CX2 differentiates on lower cut-through latency, richer LANZ buffer visibility, and Arista EOS’s open automation ecosystem.
- Versus Juniper QFX5200-32C: Similar port density and throughput; the 7060CX2 stands out on EOS automation depth, native CloudVision integration, and the LANZ telemetry stack for real-time buffer visibility.
Similar Arista 7060 Models to Consider
If you’re evaluating the
Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-R, these closely related models are worth comparing:
- Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-F – Identical in every respect to this model but with front-to-rear (forward) airflow, ideal for standard hot-aisle/cold-aisle deployments.
- Arista DCS-7060CX-32S-R – First-generation 7060CX spine with 16 MB buffer and the same port count, throughput, and airflow. The value option when 22 MB buffer depth is not required.
- Arista DCS-7280CR3-32D4-F – Switch router with 32×100G + 4×400G QSFP-DD, 8 GB buffer, and full MPLS/SR routing capabilities for DCI and WAN-edge deployments.
- Arista DCS-7050SX3-48YC8-R – 48×25G + 8×100G leaf switch, the natural pairing for 7060CX2-32S-R spine switches in a full leaf-spine fabric.
Related 7060X Resources
To explore the broader Arista 7060X portfolio and understand how the DCS-7060CX2-32S-R fits into a complete leaf-spine design:
Arista 7060 Series Switches: Architecture, Models, and Deployment Guide
The Spine Switch Built for Bursty, High-Density 100G Fabrics
The
Arista DCS-7060CX2-32S-R delivers everything demanded of a modern data center spine — 6.4 Tbps of non-blocking capacity, 450 ns cut-through latency, 32-port 100G density, and the full depth of Arista EOS automation — with a 40% deeper packet buffer and native 25GbE support that give it a practical edge in bursty, mixed-speed environments. Its rear-to-front airflow makes it the right choice for reverse-cooled data centers and labs. Available from BrightStar Systems fully tested, reset to factory defaults, and backed by a 1-year in-house warranty.
